In today’s edition of “What did you say” we look at some very common mistakes made by English learners when talking to Native English speakers in China and abroad. So let’s get right to the article and see what we’re going to look at today!

1. Home – “Home is where the heart is” is a very common English idiom, however it doesn’t always work out that way, sometimes home is where ever you happen to be living at that time in your life. Often students or friends will ask me what I’m doing and I’ll answer “I’m going home.” or “Nothing, just waiting to go home.” and a look of amazement will cross their face and they’ll reply “Really?! When are you coming back to China?”. Many Chinese have a very definite sense of home, home is China, home is where your family is or to use an idiom, Home is where your heart is. Western people do as well but not always, if I tell you “In a month I’m going home!” than yes, probably that means I’m going to Canada, as no one waits a month before they go back to their house. However if I just finished class and I say “I’m going home now.” You can pretty much assume it means I’m going to my house, not back to Canada. So home can mean two different things and you should use the context of the situation to understand which one is being meant.

What to say instead:

If they are talking about far in the future or talking about not seeing you for a long time, home probably means country. But if they are just talking about going home from work then home probably just means their house in China.

2. “This Monday” – This is another answer which causes problems for many English learners it seems. Sometimes on Friday afternoon, and a friend will call me and ask “Hey! When do you want to meet?” and I’ll answer “How about this Monday at 4?” to which they will reply “This Monday? But it’s already Friday!” because it seems all Chinese are taught to be strict about “This Monday” and “Next Monday”. Now in fact, in this case, you English learners are actually technically correct, I should say next Monday. However, rarely will foreigners do this, Once it’s Friday or Saturday, especially the weekend, this Monday becomes the one coming up. Again, it’s all about context, if it’s Friday and I say “This Monday.” you can assume I mean the one coming in three days. If it’s Thursday and I say “This Wednesday.” it might be a good idea to check to make sure what I mean, just in case I lost track of days. So while the English learners are actually correct here, it’s still important you can use context to understand the situation simply and clearly, because English has many rules, but Native speakers break them often.

What to say instead:

Again, it’s all about context, if it’s Friday and they say “this Monday”, they mean the one coming up. If you are really confused you can ask but usually it should be fairly obvious based on what day it is now.

3. Mr. Ethan – I get this a lot with business students as well as with some of my students. Mr. Ethan. There are two problems with this phrase, first I hate “Mr.” and I tell everyone to just call me Ethan, much nicer I think, though if I had a secretary I’d probably have them call me Mr. Strauss just for fun! The second and more important mistake is you can never use Mr. with someone’s first name, Mr. is only used with the family name. I could be called Ethan or Mr. Strauss but never Mr. Ethan, it sounds very strange to native speakers to hear Mr. *first name* from people and it’s not comfortable.

What to say instead:

Always use Mr. *Last name*.
Mr. Strauss, Ms. White, Mrs. Zhang

4. Welcome! – Everyone knows that Beijing Welcomes You (北京欢迎你) however welcome shouldn’t be used as often as I see and hear it being used in China. I know it’s friendly and nice to welcome people but let me explain. I’ve been living in China for 8 years, in those 8 years I’ve been welcomed to China 34,642,125 times. Ok, probably not really that many but it really does feel like it sometimes. I can’t honestly count how often I have had someone who asks me where I’m from say “Welcome to China!” or “Welcome to Beijing!”, I know they are being friendly and, don’t worry, I’m not going to get angry at them about it. But it’s a bit frustrating to hear it continually after 8 years like I just stepped off the airplane. Generally speaking we only use “Welcome to…” when someone has just arrived in the place you are in. If you know a forienger who arrived in the last month or two, say welcome! I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear it. But if they have lived here more than 4-6 months, do not welcome them anymore!

What to say instead:

“I just arrived in China!”
“Welcome to China!” – If they have just arrived, a welcome is friendly

“I’ve been in China 6 months!”
“Are you enjoying it so far?” If they have bIfeen here a short time, See how they like it.

“I’ve been in China 8 years!”
“Oh, long time, What’s your job here?” If they have been here a long time, move on to other topics related to the issue.

As well, often when I tell someone I want to go to their hometown they will say “Oh! Welcome to Xiamen!” or whatever town, that makes you sound like the town greeter, it’s polite I agree but it’s a little strange. Better to say “Oh! You should come!” and then, quickly and concisely, say why they should come. “Oh! You should come, it’s really beautiful here!”